SEITENSTETTEN. - Benedictine abbey, in the diocese of Sankt Pölten (Lower Austria).

It was founded around 1100 as a house of Canons Regular, but the founder, Count Udalscalco of Stille and Heft, called Benedictine monks there in 1112 from the abbey of Göttweig. From as early as 1114 it was an independent abbey. In 1116 came the first dedication of the church. Already in the Middle Ages there was a school there, including an external one; but in 1814 a public gymnasium was opened, with an attached boarding school, which soon acquired great renown. After the Nazi suppression (1938-45) it is today in full recovery. The abbey has a notable library, a museum (more than 600 canvases), a medal collection, a coin cabinet, and a treasury. It has the care of 14 incorporated parishes.

The present church is Gothic (choir of around 1300; the three naves are earlier, from 1254); but it was partially rebuilt from 1630 onward and in 1677 completely baroque-ized. The altars are from 1690-1703, the side chapels later. The cloister too is a Baroque reconstruction. The convent, already partly renovated from 1630 onward, was transformed and rebuilt according to a grandiose plan, by J. Munggenast and J. G. Hayberger, between 1719 and 1749. The long front measures 160 m.; it has 5 courtyards with the church at the center; the entrance to the monastery has three naves, the grand staircase three arms; the library, on two floors, was frescoed by P. Troger (1741); notable is the refectory, with the canvases of J. M. Schmidt, and the marble hall, with frescoes by Troger. The whole forms a complex typical of the great Austrian Benedictine abbeys.

Among the incorporated parishes, mention is due to the sanctuary of Sonntagsberg (740 m. in height) of the Most Holy Trinity; a chapel in 1440, a Gothic church in 1490, it was transformed into a splendid Baroque building between 1706 and 1717, by the celebrated architects J. Prandtauer and J. Munggenast. In the dome is a grandiose fresco by D. Gran, which is among his major works; the interior and the furnishings are in Baroque style; the Treasury is interesting. - See plate XVII.

Plate XVII Left: MONUMENTAL ENTRANCE of the Abbey built between 1719 and 1747 by Giuseppe Munggenast and Giovanni Gottardo Hayberger. In the foreground the statue of St. Peter on the church steps. Right: FACADE OF THE ABBEY CHURCH (1707-11).(fot. Bildarchiv d. ö. Nationalbibliothek)

Plate XVII Left: MONUMENTAL ENTRANCE of the Abbey built between 1719 and 1747 by Giuseppe Munggenast and Giovanni Gottardo Hayberger. In the foreground the statue of St. Peter on the church steps. Right: FACADE OF THE ABBEY CHURCH (1707-11).(fot. Bildarchiv d. ö. Nationalbibliothek)

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: P. F. Kehr, Germania Pont., I, Berlin 1911, pp. 1225-27; M. Riesenbuber, Die Abteikirche von S., Vienna 1916; E. Schaffran, Kunstgesch. Österr., ibid. 1948, see indexes; P. Ortmayr, s. v. in LThK, IX, coll. 433-34; H. Tausch, Benediktin. Mönchtum in Österr., Vienna 1949, passim; Cottineau, II, coll. 2995-96.

Giuseppe Löw

@incollection{ec11_seitenstetten, author = {Lów, Giuseppe}, title = {Seitenstetten}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {267--268}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/seitenstetten} }

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